South Africa’s Ashleigh Moolman Pasio overcame early nerves to win her first virtual race in a performance she says was very similar to racing in real life.
South Africa’s Ashleigh Moolman Pasio won her first virtual race on Monday night. Photo: @rocacorbacycling
The national road and time-trial champion won Monday’s Trofeo Bologna with a solo attack, beating Louise Bates into second and becoming the first current WorldTour rider to win one of the professional Zwift Classics races.
Virtual racing has been adopted increasingly after the cancellation of events due to the coronavirus lockdown.
Monday’s 25km race comprised two climbs, including the final 2km climb to the finish.
“I actually know the course from real life. I’ve raced the Madonna di San Luca twice before already in my career. There’s a race called Giro dell’Emilia in October time in which I’ve finished I think second and third before, so I know the climb relatively well.
“I had an idea what to expect and as we took the switchback corner on to the climb already I could recognise where I was if I compared it to the real world.”
The 34-year-old, who races for CCC-Liv but guest rode with the Team Rowe & King Zwift outfit, says she was quite nervous before the race started.
“It’s an unknown to me. Road races are something I’ve been doing for many years and it’s my job, so it’s another day at the office when you line up on the start line. Of course there’s an element of nerves, but it’s something that I’m accustomed to.”
The race only started at 8pm, so she had the whole day to wait for the event to happen and felt quite nervous sitting on her indoor trainer during her preparations.
“I already joined the start pen half an hour before to make sure I had a good position on the start line, just like one would in a normal race.
“I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect but I did feel well prepared because I’ve been training so much on Zwift during the lockdown period,” said Moolman Pasio, who is currently based in Banyoles, Girona.
She added she had been able to work on a weakness during the weeks of training indoors, and that was raw power.
“I’m the type of rider who is more power to weight and I use my bike a lot, but on the indoor trainer that’s not really the case. You’re in a fixed position and it’s not so much about high cadence anymore, it’s more about pushing raw power.
“Of course it comes down to power to weight in these programmes, so that’s an advantage for me. Surprisingly enough I’ve seen huge improvements.
“I did a performance test on Friday and I saw quite a nice increase in my max power in the ramp test. So already I felt ‘okay, I’m prepared for this. I can do it. I’ve made improvements over the past couple of weeks training indoors, so I’m ready for the race’.”
Moolman Pasio said one of the big tips with e-racing was that you needed to already almost start your build-up or sprint five seconds before the race officially begins.
“So at the start you will already be going, because there’s a bit of a lag with indoor trainers and the virtual world. I was already kind of going for it five seconds before and as the race started I shot to the front, so I was super excited and ready to go.
“The first part of the race was actually quite hectic because it took a bit of time for it to settle down. Everyone’s excited and fighting for position almost like the real world, but of course you can’t crash in this case.
“You need to surge to kind of move up your position, but due to the lag sometimes you surge too much and then you’re off the front. So then you relax a bit and get off the power, but then get shot back all the way to like 40th place. So it took me a bit of time in the first couple of minutes to get my rhythm and find my place in the peloton.”
She said she decided to settle down into a pace that was hard enough to put everyone else under pressure, but at the right tempo to not blow herself up on the first climb.
That worked well and she caused a lot of damage in the field. There was only one rider who could stick with her, so when they turned around at the top of the climb it was the two of them together.
“I descended quite well with her. I even stopped pedalling at times so I would get the aerodynamic tuck position, which is much faster.
“At the bottom of the climb we were joined by a small group of riders; we were a group of 10. We worked really well together in the bunch and I managed to calm myself down and get a nice power rhythm to get some recovery.
“When we hit the climb for the last time that was showtime. I’ve done this so many times before in my career on the road so it was really nothing new, except this time I was stuck on my indoor trainer at home and I had my family around me shouting for me right next to me. So that was a different experience.
“I tried to just immerse myself into this virtual world and to try and replicate the feeling I would usually feel outside.”
Moolman Pasio timed her attack perfectly and said that, funnily enough, it was where she had attacked previously in the real world.
“After the race our director said ‘wow that was incredible, you attacked at just the right moment’ and I said ‘well, that’s because I’ve raced it before in real life and I know where to attack’.”
Half-way up the climb, with about 1km to go, they rode under a bridge and there was a switchback corner where it was very steep and that was where Moolman Pasio put the power down.
“The final kilometre was pretty high power to weight. I was holding well into the 300s, touching on 400 watts for the last couple of minutes. So I was really digging deep and pushing hard.
“I was super happy in the end to break away and to win solo in my first virtual race and it felt pretty good.”
Statistics-wise, in the end Moolman Pasio averaged five watts per kilogram for the entire race.
“I think my max went up to eight. For the last climb up Madonna di San Luca on my power file I averaged about 315 watts for six and a half minutes, so that was pretty decent power. I usually hold around 350 for four minutes on the road.”
She felt her experience as a professional on the road had helped her in the virtual race due to her having raced it before in real life.
“It was really cool to cross the finish line in the virtual world but then to be able to celebrate with my arms in the air in the real world with my family around me was really super cool.
“The response I’ve had over social media and from fans and teammates was very exciting. I felt pumped and motivated in these unusual times and extraordinary circumstances to be able to find some form of entertaining the fans and connecting with your community.
“Next I’ll be racing the Watopia Cup on the 21st and I’m looking forward to it.”
